6 Inmates Released

December 25, 1986|Staff reports

Six inmates were released from the Broward County jail a few days before their sentences were due to be up in an attempt to ease congestion in the crowded system, Chief Judge Miette Burnstein said Wednesday.

Burnstein said she had hoped to release even more prisoners but found that no others could be freed without endangering the public.

The six released, inmprisoned on charges ranging from contempt of court to possesion of cocaine, would have been released between Dec. 26 and Jan. 2.

The six inmates were released late Tuesday, said Fran Zandi, Department of Detention program coordinator.

By late Wednesday, the combined prisoner population in the county`s main jail in Fort Lauderdale and the North Broward Detention Complex in Pompano Beach was 1,487. That was below the cap of 1,613 set by U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler.

The county, however, is still paying a $1,000-a-day fine under the judge`s order because the inmate population was still too high on some floors of the main jail, said the county`s attorney, Alexander Cocalis.